We’ve reached the point in the “conflict” where the leader of an apartheid nation is casually broadcasting and encouraging the war crimes of the Israeli military. The Israeli propaganda minister is calling for the use of nuclear missiles on the most densely-populated prison in the world, home to over 2 million people. And what does the western world do? Encourage the inhumanity and guarantee additional resources if needed.
The onslaught in Gaza continues and has only expanded since yesterday, as Israeli forces wiped out entire neighborhoods with indiscriminate airstrikes. The apartheid state bombed the only border crossing not in their control, shutting down the Rafah border between Gaza and Egypt and destroying all the main telecommunications services in Gaza itself. The only meaning for these actions is that the Israeli government wants Gaza completely disconnected from the world, and in that endeavor they’ve been successful. My wife hasn’t heard from her family in Gaza in days, with no guarantee or indication of their safety. Talk to anyone with family or loved ones in Gaza and they’ll tell the same story.
Meanwhile, the US has deployed the largest warship in the world, the USS Gerald Ford, to the Eastern Mediterranean along with ~5,000 sailors to be “ready to respond to anything”. It’s enough to drive a sane person over the edge. Politicians around the world lining up with some variation of, “the killing of civilians is never acceptable and that's why we must stand with Israel as it drops apartment blocks on children." Western media is no different, promoting the false binary that you’re either openly supportive of Israeli war crimes or unwilling to condemn Hamas and thus sympathetic to “terrorists”.
The situation on the ground in Gaza is dire, with no place safe from the Israeli violence. The UN said that an airstrike directly hit one of its shelters and damaged five other schools-turned-shelters yesterday. The smoke hasn’t had a chance to clear in most places, and the number of casualties won’t be known until then, but now is not the time to stop paying attention. Now is the time to offer solidarity with Palestinians, and if you’re among those who don’t feel sufficiently educated on the matter, now is the time to educate ourselves. This website, run by Palestinians in the West Bank, offers an accessible but rigorous history. There’s no excuse to stay silent.